


C'mon Lets Run

by fangirlsweruntheworld



Series: Bright Forever [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Partying, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Summer, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27529111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlsweruntheworld/pseuds/fangirlsweruntheworld
Summary: "Alex glanced around at the party quickly, noticing all the people dancing, all with red cups in their hands as well, having fun. He spotted Bobby off near the entrance to the kitchen with a few more girls totally fawning over him. Reg was dancing with a girl and he was flailing his arms around to the music and she had her head back laughing at him. Alex turned his head to the other direction to see Luke in a corner with Rachel, making out."——In the midst of summer, the boys of Sunset Curve throw a party while Reggie's parents are away for the weekend. Alex starts to recognize his feelings for Luke. Drinking ensues.
Relationships: Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: Bright Forever [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019472
Comments: 12
Kudos: 91





	C'mon Lets Run

Sweat slowly dripped from Luke’s forehead while he strummed his guitar lazily, while Alex rested his head against the middle cushion of the couch from his spot on the floor, humming softly along with the tune he was playing around with. The temperature in the studio was at an all time high, with only a small fan oscillating next to where the boys were sat, giving no real relief from the hot summer weather. 

The strumming stopped abruptly when Reggie burst into the studio, a bit breathless.   


“They’re gone!” He said bounding in and flopping down excitedly on the lawn chair near the side of the couch.

Luke lifted his head up from his reclined position on the couch with a questionable look at Reggie. 

“Who’s gone?” Alex asked, sweaty eyebrows furrowed together. 

Reggie flailed his arms around dramatically. “My parents. Duh! They left for the weekend.” 

“Wait, are you telling us that your house is empty? Like...for the whole weekend?” Luke said excitedly, sitting up from his spot on the couch. 

“That's exactly what I’m saying dude.” Reggie grinned. None of the boy’s families really went away often, and so for the boys to actually get their alone time with each other, they would spend the time in the garage. But on summer days like this, when the heat was into the hundreds, it wasn’t bearable to do much other than lazing around, like Luke and Alex were doing before Reg showed up.

“I guess they're at some couples therapy retreat down in San Diego. I never thought they would actually go. But they did!” He clapped his hands together, standing up from the chair. “And boys do you know what this means?” 

“A party.” Luke stated.

“A quiet house?” Alex offered. 

Luke laughed at his friend and clapped his hands on his shoulders. “Alex, Alex, Alex. You’re going to look me in the eyes and say you don’t want to throw a rager with Sunset Curve headlining the party?” Luke wiggled his eyebrows at his best friend and Alex smirked. Alex really didn’t need much convincing, he would be down to do anything if it meant he could actually get to play a gig for people other than just the ones passing by the pier. And maybe spend the weekend away from his folks with three of his best friends too. 

“We gotta get Bobby, let him know what’s going on, get the word out to everybody, and start planning a set list.” Luke said, excited for the prospect of an actual party. “I have some great ideas for what we can play.” Luke strummed out a melody of one of Sunset Curve’s songs on his guitar that was still on his lap.   


“Do you think Matt could get us some booze too?” Reggie asked. Matt was Bobby’s older brother who stuck around Los Angeles instead of moving away to college like a 22 year old normally would. 

The guys didn’t party or drink, really ever. Sunset Curve was their priority, and nothing, especially drinking, needed to get in the way of that. Reggie had gotten drunk once, on a night where his parents were being exceptionally bad, after breaking into their liquor cabinet, and had shown up to the studio a slobbery mess. 

“We got to get the word out to people. Reg, you’re in charge of party supplies; food, drinks, the works. I’ll call Bob to let him know what’s going down, and then Alex and I will go down the boulevard to spread the news.” Luke was being their leader, as always. Alex smirked at him and held his hand out for Luke to help him up from his spot on the floor. 

——

Three hours later, and with many calls to people they knew from their school and some of the little bit of a fan base they made around town, the party was on for 8pm, and the boys were at Reggie’s place setting up their equipment. Bobby had shown up, with a couple girls in tow and was showing them how he tuned his guitar. 

His brother Matt had shown up a bit earlier with a few friends, dropped off a couple cases of liquor and beers, and dipped promptly after. 

“This is going to be rad man.” Luke said when he came up behind Alex, his electric guitar now strapped across his chest. 

“I just hope nothing happens. I had a cousin who threw an underage party once, and they called the cops on them. If we get busted and my parents find out…” Alex trailed off. Though his relationship with his parents was okay most of the time, unlike Luke with his, his dad was pretty strict, and knowing his son lied to him about where he was tonight would not bode over well.

“It’s going to be fine. We're gonna just play a set, maybe have a couple of drinks, and that's it.” Luke rested his hand on Alex’s shoulder comfortingly. “Plus if Emily found out, God only knows how she’d react.”

“Lucas you are quitting the band, and I mean it this time!” Alex imitated his friend’s mother, poorly but it made Luke laugh and he smiled brightly up at his friend. The blonde’s heart skipped the tiniest bit. Whenever he was feeling anxious Luke was always the one to make him feel better. 

“Well, speaking of the band, I feel like we should get a sound check started?” Alex nodded. “Where’s Reggie?” 

——

“We’re Sunset Curve, tell your friends!” Reggie shouted into the mic, after the guys finished the second half of their set. The crowd cheered and applause filled up Reggie’s living room completely. Before Alex had time to even come out from behind his drums, he could see Bobby bouncing off the makeshift rise they had, and walking off with some girls, different ones than he’d brought to the house earlier.

Luke walked up to Alex with a small white towel for him to wipe off some of the sweat that had formed while rocking out. Even with the AC blasting throughout the house, the boys were drenched from their performance. 

“That was epic. You were amazing Alex.” Luke pushed his hair back from his forehead, and Reggie bounded over throwing his arms around his two friends. 

“Guys, we are KILLING it. Have we ever played so good? I don’t think so.” Reggie sounded like he was slurring his words just a bit, and Luke sniffed the air close to where his mouth was hanging open.

“Are you drunk already?” Luke laughed. Reggie shrugged walking away from the boys. “I just had like one drink. Or was it two?” 

“He’s going to be trashed by the end of the night.” Alex stated. 

“Yeah, but this time we are going to be too, so we won’t have to sit with him in the bathroom while he pukes his guts out.”

Right when Alex was about to come up with a quippy comeback, a couple of girls ran over to them. Alex didn’t recognize them from school. One was a brunette with a short bob and this neon print summer dress on with these semi-obnoxious matching butterfly clips in her hair, and the other girl had some denim overalls on, with a colorful crop top underneath. Both girls had cups in their hands and butterfly clips was smiling up at Luke. 

“Hey, this is my friend Diana, and I’m Rachel. We really like your sound.” The girl batted her eyelashes flirtingly at Luke and his eyebrows shot up and he jumped down from the lift to be face to face with the girl who said her name was Rachel. 

“Oh thanks, could I uhh get you a drink?” She lifted her cup at him, and he blushed a little bit, while Alex laughed at him. Although he had mad charisma on stage, Luke was a bit of a goof when it came to girls. “Right, um.” He cleared his throat, “Wanna come with me to get one?” Rachel nodded at him, grabbing his hand, and tugging him towards their makeshift bar, the two disappearing into the crowd of people.

The other girl, Diana, fiddled with the buckle on the strap of her overalls, and looked up at Alex, who was basically towering over her. They stood in silence together for a minute before she said, “Do you maybe want to get a drink too?” She seemed timid and unsure of herself, unlike Rachel who was ready to sweep Luke away. 

“Uhhh. Okay?” Alex looked around quickly to try and find his other friends for some sort of rescue, but the crowd of people was a bit overwhelming. 

Alex had come out to the band at the beginning of the summer, Luke being the first to know, and Reggie and Bobby shortly after. But nobody at his school knew, and definitely not his parents. If he told this girl who he assumed was into him that he really wasn’t into her, he was risking coming out to this entire party, and he couldn’t handle that.

“I’ve uhh, seen you play before. You guys are really sick.” His head snapped over to look at her. 

“You’ve seen us play before?” He was a bit shocked. They’d only had a few gigs so the odds that she’d show up at another one of them was pretty crazy.

“Yeah, I really liked the last song you played. Has a great beat. Plus, Rachel has been kinda obsessed with you guys, especially your friend…” 

“Luke.” Alex finished for her.

“Yes, Luke. I guess she kind of scored tonight.” Diana chuckled a bit, her eyes glancing around and refilled her plastic cup with a labelless bottle, now that the two were at the “bar”. 

“She’s into Luke?” Something pinged in his chest, and he couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact feeling. Jealousy? For Luke? No...maybe more jealousy for him just being able to hook up with a girl at a party, and be open about it. He didn’t have to hide any part of himself. Maybe it was a bit of jealousy for Luke, but that was something he was pushing deep down inside himself and trying not to think about.

The girl pushed a cup into Alex’s hands and he hadn’t even realized that she had poured it for him. Sniffing the cup, Alex gagged a little bit when the smell of the liquor filled his nostrils.

“It’s not as bad as it smells. Just chug it really fast, and you won’t even be able to taste the next few.” Alex lifted the cup to his lips and took a tentative sip.

“You’ve done this before?”

“Once or twice.” She shrugged. 

It definitely didn’t taste as bad as it smelled, that was until he took a bigger gulp and the liquid burned the back of his throat almost immediately. 

As Alex finished off the first glass, Diana had the bottle ready in her hands, ready to fill it right back up, along with hers. Alex glanced around at the party quickly, noticing all the people dancing, all with red cups in their hands as well, having fun. He spotted Bobby off near the entrance to the kitchen with a few more girls totally fawning over him. Reg was dancing with a girl and he was flailing his arms around to the music and she had her head back laughing at him. Alex turned his head to the other direction to see Luke in a corner with Rachel, making out. 

“Let’s get drunk.” He said to Diana. She smiled at him, and clinked her plastic against his. 

“Let’s.”

——

After about 3 more of whatever mixed drinks Diana kept making him, and two party shots, which were just sugary liquor jello, Alex found himself in the kitchen with Diana, pretty much alone, eating out of a big bag of chips they stole out of Reggie’s parents pantry, nursing a fourth drink. 

“I just don’t even get it you know. Like what even is the point? I just, I don’t even know. You know?” 

Alex looked at her, totally not knowing what she was talking about. His mind kept wandering to Luke in that corner kissing that girl. Just in front of everyone. In front of him. 

“What?” He asked. The drinks had definitely gotten to him at this point. Diana giggled and Alex couldn’t help but laugh aloud too. Everything was funny. 

“Alex!” She whined. “Keep up. I was saying I don’t get how people can just like make out with people in front of everyone. It’s totally, like uhh, bizarre.” So that’s why he was thinking about Luke and that girl. Was that the only reason?

“You tryna say you’ve never made out with somebody at a party before?” Alex pointed his chip in her face and she swatted it away. 

“I really don’t go to parties a lot. Rachel was the one who dragged my butt here. She said ‘it’ll be fun, I promise.’ And then spent the entire time not even hanging out with me.” She took a hefty sip from her drink. “Not that I’m not having fun. You’re actually kinda cool. I just don’t think I even like people all that much.” Alex nodded, his eyes closing and his head lolled back slightly and he had to straighten his posture a bit to stay upright. 

“I don’t even like girls.” Before he realized what he had said his eyes snapped open and he looked over at Diana whose mouth made a little ‘o’ shape. Shit. 

“Oh. Yeah. That’s cool.” She was totally slurring all her words at this point. “I don’t really like boys.” Suddenly this wave of calm washed over him and he started laughing, hysterically. Of course the one person that he hung out with all night would be gay. 

“Wait. That’s why you’re so jealous of your friend.” She crunched on another chip. “I get it now.” 

Stuttering, he said, “I uh, who said I was jealous? I’m definitely not jealous.” 

“Psshh. You were talking about how much you didn’t like how he was making out in the corner just then. But like I totally get it. I don’t like seeing Rachel do it either.” Was she also crushing on her best friend. Wait a minute…

“I wasn’t the one who brought up the kissing, you did.” She shook her head at him. Oh, he must have drank way more than he thought. 

With an almost empty bottle, Diana lifted it up, filling up the two cups that sat idle on the counter for a bit of time now, til it ran out. 

“Let’s make a pact. I’ll tell mine, if you tell yours.” He glared at her for a moment.

Clink.

——

All the drunk teenagers started to clear out around 2am, which included Bobby who went home with one of his ‘groupies’. Alex had said goodbye to Diana who dragged Rachel away from Luke around 1:30, which had been around the time the two had finished the last of their drinks, and almost an entire bottle of what he figured out was tequila. Alex told her he’d invite her to the next gig they had and they said goodbye to one another. 

Reggie was on his couch, completely passed out with drool visibly spilling down his chin and an empty cup clutched to his chest. 

Alex stumbled into the living room where Luke had a big black trash bag and was going around picking up stray cups and different pieces of trash.

Luke turned when he heard Alex’s familiar footsteps, and smiled greatly at him. Placing the trash bag down carefully so he wouldn’t spill the contents and walked over to his friend slinging his arm around his shoulders. The force almost pushed him over, even with the extra few inches he had on Luke and he stumbled a bit. Luke's hands went to catch him, and steadied him immediately. Go figure.

“Woah, how much did you drink?” Luke’s cheeks were flushed red, as well as his lips, and his eyes were a bit glassy, but Alex could tell he was definitely not as drunk as him.

“Oh. A lot.” He laughed. “I think we finished an entire bottle of tequila?” It was posed as a question. 

“Damn Alex.” Luke gripped his arm tighter, and Alex noticed he hadn’t let go. “Sorry we didn’t hang out. I didn’t realize how much of the night got away from me.”

“‘s cool, Di was fun.” Luke smirked. 

“’Di’ huh? She seemed cool.”

“How would you know? You were getting your face sucked all night.” It was meant to come off as a light hearted joke, but the bit of jealousy that raced in the back of his mind, definitely came to play.

“Fair.” Luke looked down, and Alex noticed he’d retracted his hand, and he regretted saying it instantly because he missed the warmth. Instead he grabbed Luke’s hand and tugged him towards the sliding doors that were semi-open that led to the back deck of the house, which led to the beach. 

“Let’s go to the water.” Luke just smiled, and let Alex stumble his way to the shore, with Luke in tow. 

Alex stood at the shoreline and let his, now bare, feet sink into the sand while the shore washed over them. Every minute he felt like he was getting drunker...wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? When was he gonna sober up?

Luke pressed his hand lightly to the small of his back and said something inaudible to him. 

“Huh?” Was all he said turning to look at him. Even in just the moon-glow and the bit of light coming from the house behind him, he could see the sparkle in his eyes. For a second he couldn’t tell if it was just because he was drunk, but he could’ve totally swore Luke’s gaze flickered down to his lips, just for a millisecond. 

A cough. “You good, man? You seem pretty wasted?” Luke’s hand didn’t stray from its place on his back. Alex nodded, humming lightly. 

Before he could stop himself, he sat down, right in the wet sand, soaking his shorts almost instantly. The cool water of the pacific washed over his legs and it felt relieving to the warmth that was in the air, even at 2am. 

“You  _ are  _ wasted.” Luke said, but sat down right next to him anyways. 

“Did you like that girl tonight?” Alex knew if he hadn’t had all the alcohol rushing through his bloodstream he wouldn’t have said anything. He would’ve forgotten about it, not thought about it until Luke forgot too, and went back to their normal dynamic. Regularly scheduled programming. But he had no filter, and he was genuinely curious if Luke was going to see her again.

“I don’t know. She was cool I guess. Girls aren’t really my thing right now.” If Alex had been drinking still he was sure he would’ve spit it out right then and there. Did he really just hear Luke say that? 

“I’m just too invested in the band right now to be thinking about girls.” Oh. “Speaking of which, I know it was oh so long ago for you now, and tequila brain totally might be fuckin with you, but you really were amazing tonight. That drum solo in  _ Late Last Night  _ was killer!” Alex nodded, proud of himself. 

“Well, that riff you did during  _ In Your Starlight _ totally had all of us fawning over you. Mad vocals man.”  _ Us.  _ “The girls.”

“Nah, I don’t wanna talk about those girls right now.” Luke muttered, his hands fidgeting in the sand. 

Without thinking about it, Alex laid down completely, the tips of his blonde hair getting wet in the water. He didn’t even care, he was so comfortable and he could see a few stars peaking through some of the clouds. 

“Luke. Look at the stars. So bright.” He hummed. “Hmm, bright.”

Luke shook his head at him but stayed upright, not about to ruin his good t shirt in the muddy sand. “You’re such a goober man. Remind me not to let you get this drunk next time. I didn’t expect to have to drag you back from the beach.” 

Ignoring him, Alex hummed a little tune to himself and Luke looked at him questioningly. 

“What’s that you're humming?” He poked at his leg teasingly. 

Alex giggled, shaking his head making the sand fly all over Luke, but started singing some lyrics anyways. 

“ _ We’re bright forever. We can rise. Through the night. You and I. We will fight to shine together. Bright forever.” _

Luke twisted his body and looked at Alex, who had his eyes closed now, and a goofy grin plastered across his, very drunk, face. “Did you write a song?” Luke said in disbelief. He remembered a time when Alex told him he would never write a song, that was totally Luke’s territory, and maybe sometime Reggie, although most of those came out super country sounding for some reason.

“Mhmm.” Alex mumbled again, and started to sing a couple more of the lyrics. “For us.” It was almost inaudible.

“ _ Close my eyes and jump. Together I think that we can make it, Come on lets run.”  _ The words kind of ran into each other as he sang it.

“Alex…” Luke whispered, and that big grin that he had on his face had only grown bigger. “Why are you just telling me about that now? That’s amazing. We can totally use it!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and laughed to himself again. “Dunno.” 

Luke couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, that song must have been about the two of them. But he didn’t think Alex felt anything towards him? Could it be that song was about someone else? Was there anyone else? But there was also the way he could tell he was acting about him spending the whole night with that girl.

Luke stood up, brushing the back of his shorts, even though the wet sand was basically stuck on. He reached out his hands to Alex. 

“C’mon man. Let’s head back. Call it a night.” Alex opened his eyes and stared up at him before grabbing his hands tightly, letting Luke pull him all the way up. 

They held onto each other's hands on the way back up to the house.

——

Luke woke up groggily the morning, turning over in Reggie’s guest bed to see Alex laying on his back, similarly to how he had last night, but this time snoring softly. The sun poured into the room from the window, and illuminated Alex, his hair like pure gold in the light. Luke brushed a stray hair away and smiled to himself.

Seagulls squealed from outside the windows, and Luke was pretty sure he could hear a few people from the beach. Turning, he looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table which read 9am. There was no way Alex would be up anytime soon, and Luke needed to be back home, per Emily’s agreement. 

Luke gathered up his pants that were strewn on the floor, still a little moist from sitting at the edge of the water and padded to the door lightly to not wake Alex. 

As he was grabbing his electric and placing it in its case, ready to take it back home with him, since he didn’t go anywhere without it, Reggie walked in from the kitchen with a glass of orange juice, rubbing his eyes. 

“Bro...what happened last night?” 

“I’ll fill ya in at rehearsal tonight Reg.”

Later, nearly 6pm, Alex walked into the studio, hungover as all hell, his head pounding against his skull, and was greeted with Luke sitting in the lawn chair, scribbling in his notebook. 

“Hey man, what time did you get here?” Alex asked, laying down on the couch, his skin already sticking to the leather. He rubbed at his temples. 

“A few hours ago. Emily wanted me home this morning, but I didn’t stick around long. Been here since. I was wondering when you were going to wake up.” 

Alex groaned loudly. “I thought I wasn’t going to. Until I heard Reg clanging around in the living room trying to disassemble the set by himself. Then I barfed in their guest bathroom.” Luke laughed loudly. 

Alex squinted at him and pointed at his notebook. “What are you writing?” 

Luke flipped the songbook around so that Alex could see the largely written “ _ BRIGHT _ ” across the top of the page. His eyes widened. Had he really told Luke about  _ Bright _ ?

“Listen man, most of last night got pretty foggy. Could you just tell me that it’s a coincidence you’re writing a song titled that?” Luke shook his head with a smirk. 

“No way man. Those lyrics were awesome. As soon as you told me, I wanted to write them down so I wouldn’t forget.” Luke started to sing what was written down, in a slightly altered way than Alex was singing last night. “ _ We will fight to shine together. Bright forever.  _ Those are genius. You gotta tell me the rest. Why have you been hiding them?” Alex shrugged. Maybe one day he would tell Luke the real reason. 

“Well. You got any more?” Alex nodded.

“Let’s write this song man.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I switched a bit of the lyrics to Bright around real subtly since 1. Alex was very drunk, and 2. I feel like Luke would've changed a few of them once he gave the song to Julie. But I fully believe that's Alex's song. 
> 
> If you think I should write a companion piece to it about Luke in 2020 asking Alex if he can give it to Julie lemme know. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed! I had fun writing drunk Alex. 
> 
> -T


End file.
